The 6-3-3-4 System of Education in Nigeria: An Evaluation

Abstract

Education is the greatest investment that a nation can make for the quick development of its economic, political, sociological and human resources. Education is an important tool for sustaining democratic process. Its acquisition can equip an individual to take control of governing him/herself and contribute maximally to national development while its absence makes the individual vulnerable to various pressures in the society. Educational system represents the factory house through which high level manpower such as teachers, doctors and engineers among others are produced. In view of the importance and significance of education to nation building, the Nigerian government in 1976 reviewed its educational policy, which produced the 6-3-3-4 system of education. The system was designed to operate a curriculum, which embodies technical, commercial and vocational training. The system introduced a more relevant functional and suitable curriculum, but these expected dividends were not being realized hence the study was designed to evaluate the system. The study critically evaluated the 6-3-3-4 system of education with a view to making recommendations to either abandon the system or continue with it and proffering implementation strategies for the policy option adopted. The research relied on both primary and secondary methods of data collection. From the findings, some of the major factors that contributed to the assumed failure of the system were: inadequate planning, financial and manpower constraints, inadequate facilities and lack of political will to carry out the reforms. The work concluded that there was structurally nothing wrong with the 6-3-3-4 system of education as the curriculum was tailored towards effective citizenship, national consciousness and national unity as well as towards social, cultural, economic, political, scientific and technological progress. However, the study revealed that the problem was the partial implementation of the system. It therefore recommended that Nigeria should forge ahead with the complete implementation of the 6-3-3-4 system of education and make adjustments with time and as circumstances dictate. A change in the system was not advocated in this study rather a strong commitment to the existing system was strongly recommended. To this end, the project proffered appropriate strategies for implementing some of the recommendations made. A few of the implementation strategies are: the adequate publicity of the system, the need to redirect energy to correcting the issues of wrong and partial implementation of some aspects of the system, the involvement of all stakeholders, the provision of adequate and qualified teachers and the provision of adequate infrastructural facilities.